It was a late day in May in a small suburban neighborhood. The sun was getting close to setting and the air was heavy with heat. Wiping beads of sweat off your forehead, you slowly made your way down the empty sidewalk along with your three best friends. You were all heading home after a days worth of hanging out at a nearby vacant lot. Every day after school, your little group got together until the sun set. Other than the distant sound of cicadas in the distance, the only thing to be heard was the sound of your rubber soles tapping against the hot tan sidewalk.
"I can't wait for summer! We should just hang out like this all day long!" Cody, the youngest of your group commented
"Pfft, As if you wouldn't sleep in" Ryan, the oldest boy in the group jested. .
"I'd wake up if you knocked on my window or something...." Cody sighed.
"So now we're your alarm clock?" Ryan continued to poke fun.
"Alright alright, how about the first person to wake up goes around and wakes up the rest of us? What do you think, Adam?" Brandon, the third darker haired boy attempted to come up with a peaceful solution. He was often the most mature and acted as a voice of reason.
"Sounds good to me" You replied out of nowhere. Brandon was always good at keeping the peace when Ryan and Cody.were going at it.
"See! It told you it was a good idea!" Cody boasted pridefully with his arms crossed and head high.
"I'll be sure to wake you up LAST" Ryan sneered.
"Heeeey!" Cody whined.
"Can't you two ever just get along?" Brandon groaned.
"Ryan's the one who always starts it...." Cody whispered under his breath.
"Gaah I'm starving" Ryan groaned with hunger, clenching his belly dramatically. Ryan was the oldest of the four at 12, You and Brandon were 11, and Cody was the youngest at 10.
"Your appetite is ridiculous dude. I'm never letting you back in my house after you scarfed down those two entire bags of chips!" Brandon spoke condescendingly.
"Hey man, boy's gotta eat" Ryan hummed happily with his eyes closed, probably remembering how much he enjoyed eating those chips.
You continued to walk at the front of the pack, you couldn't help but smile at the usual antics of your friends. They were all so different, but for some reason, you all just had such a great bond. You honestly couldn't imagine how your life would be without them.
Cody, who was still a little upset about Ryan's teasing suddenly noticed a trail of ants crossing a dirt covered area alongside the side-walk.
"ANTS!!" The boy shouted gleefully as he stepped off the pathway.
"Ohhhh here we go again..." Brandon sighed. Cody always had a cruel obsession with crushing any bug that crossed his line of vision.
"You know, you're probably building up a lot of karma by doing that." Brandon added.
Cody didn't seem to pay the other boy any mind as he raised his worn-out converse sneaker over the small line of ants, covering them in shadow. You couldn't help but watch Cody's happily sinister expression as he slowly lowered his foot onto the tiny fleeing insects. "SQUUUISSHHH" The blonde chuckled to himself as his rubber sole made contact with the dirt. Any semblance of life was instantly crushed under the 10 year old's weight.
"Pffft, what do you expect? He's just compensating because he's so short" Ryan chuckled. Cody looked up at the taller boy with a deep glare.
"Sometimes I wish YOU were a bug" Cody grinded his foot firmly into the soft dry dirt.
"ooOoO I'm terrified" The taller boy rolled his eyes.
The four of you continued walking until you reached the Maple intersection. Each of you lived in different directions from this point on. Waving to each other, you all gave each other your usual farewells.
"Later.."
----
[That night]
Struggling to pull on a pair of blue pajamas, you began hopping on one leg.
"Gahh~ woah!" You nearly fall over when you suddenly see an odd green light shoot through the sky outside your bedroom window.
"..Wh-what was that?" You press your face up against the window glass, squinting your eyes for whatever had created the entrancing luminescence.
That was when you noticed a faint green glow down by the outskirts of your yard. You turned your head from side to side to see if any of the other neighbors had seen it themselves.
Growing more and more curious with each passing second, you decided that you should investigate. Slowly making your way down the stairs to avoid any unnecessary suspicion, you quietly tip-toed to the back door. Pulling the slide door open, you quickly started to tread across the back yard. The cool grass against your bare-feet tickled with each footstep. Scanning the grass as you continued on, your eyes suddenly noticed the familiar green glow.
Feeling a bit cautions, you picked up a nearby stick and inched yourself closer to the strange glowing object. It was about the size of a small rock. The light that emitted from it seemed to almost pulsate as if it were alive. With stick in hand, you carefully began to poke it. To your surprise, the faint glowing began to die.
No longer sensing that there was any immediate danger, you slowly began to reach for the small stone. After a few light touches, you grasped your fingers around it, bringing it up to your face.
"What IS this thing...?"
Not wanting your parents to find you standing alone in the dark, you quickly made your way back into your house, concealing the stone firmly in the palm of your hand.
"I bet the guys wouldn't even believe me if I told them.." You whispered to yourself after closing your bedroom door behind you.
You decided that you would show them your new discovery at........
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